How do I repent (make tawbah) from a sin?

What tawbah actually is

The scholars define it as turning back from disobedience to obedience. Ibn Uthaymeen explained that it can be complete or partial: complete tawbah is when a person repents from every sin, while partial tawbah is when someone repents from one specific sin while persisting in another. Allah says:

"And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you might succeed."— Qur'an 24:31

And He says:

"O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance."— Qur'an 66:8

The command is not optional. IslamWeb (fatwa 27710) notes that tawbah is obligatory upon every Muslim who has sinned, and that it applies equally to the disbeliever and the sinning Muslim.

The conditions of a valid tawbah

Scholars list the conditions in slightly different arrangements, but they agree on the substance. Ibn Uthaymeen and IslamWeb (fatwa 5450) both list five; Ibn Baz and Shaykh Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad list three, with a fourth added when others' rights are involved. The difference is in how they count, not in what is required.

Sincerity comes first

Ibn Uthaymeen stressed that sincerity is the most important condition. If a person repents only because the authorities are watching, or to look good in front of others, the tawbah is not valid. The repentance must be directed to Allah alone.

Regret must be real

Regret is not a formality. Ibn Uthaymeen described it as an inward stirring — grief and sorrow over what you did, so that your state after the sin is not the same as your state before it. If committing the sin or not committing it feels the same to you, that is not tawbah.

You must stop now

This is the decisive condition. Ibn Uthaymeen called it "the heart of the matter." If the sin was doing something forbidden, you abandon it at once. If it was omitting an obligation, you fulfil it if it can still be made up. He gave the example of someone eating another person's food: if he repents mid-meal, he must stop eating immediately — continuing would invalidate the tawbah.

The resolve must be firm

If you say you have repented but in your heart you know that you would do it again given the chance, the tawbah is not valid. Ibn Uthaymeen was explicit: the resolve must be genuine, not a vague hope.

If you genuinely resolved not to return, then later fell into the sin again, the first tawbah is not invalidated — but you must renew your tawbah for the new occurrence.

The time must be within acceptance

Tawbah is accepted only while a person is alive and before the sun rises from the west. Once death arrives, repentance is no longer accepted. Allah says:

"But repentance is not [accepted] of those who [continue to] do evil deeds up to the point when death approaches one of them, [and] he says, 'Indeed, I have repented now.'"— Qur'an 4:18

Ibn Uthaymeen pointed to Pharaoh as the clearest example: he believed only when drowning, and it was too late.

If the sin involved another person

When the sin involves someone else's rights — stolen money, slander, physical harm — the three conditions are not enough. Ibn Baz and al-Abbad both state that a fourth is required: you must return the right to its owner or seek their forgiveness.

Ibn Baz explained that if a person has wronged someone and does not make it right, the matter remains and will be settled on the Day of Judgment. The Prophet ﷺ warned:

"Whoever has a wrong against his brother concerning his honour or anything else, let him seek his pardon today before there is no dinar or dirham. If he has good deeds, they will be taken from him according to the wrong; and if he has no good deeds, the sins of the wronged person will be taken and placed upon him."— Sahih al-Bukhari 2449

Returning rights without exposing yourself

Ibn Baz was asked: what if returning the money means exposing yourself and causing problems? His answer was that you do not have to reveal yourself. You can return the money through an intermediary, by post, by bank transfer, or by any means that delivers it — saying only that a person who fears Allah has sent this to you as what is owed. The obligation is to return the right, not to publicise your sin.

Ibn Uthaymeen gave similar guidance: if you backbit someone who does not know about it, it is enough to regret it, stop it, and speak well of them in the gatherings where you had spoken ill.

What helps after tawbah

IslamWeb (fatwa 5450) notes that a person who has repented should live between hope and fear — hoping for acceptance, fearing that it may not be accepted. The sign of sincere tawbah is that you find in your heart a burning regret over what you neglected, you see yourself as falling short before Allah, you distance yourself from the sin and its causes, you keep company with the righteous, and you cut off bad friends.

The scholars also recommend increasing in good deeds, because:

"Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds."— Qur'an 11:114

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Follow a bad deed with a good deed, and it will erase it."— Jami' al-Tirmidhi 1987, from Abu Dharr

IslamWeb (fatwa 75958) mentions that some scholars considered the verbal utterance of seeking forgiveness (istighfar) to be a condition, but al-Haytami concluded after discussion that none of the imams actually required it. The essential thing is the tawbah in the heart, expressed in words.

Key takeaways

• Tawbah is obligatory, not optional — every Muslim who sins must repent, and Allah accepts the repentance of anyone who turns to Him sincerely.
• Three conditions are always required: stop the sin, regret it, and resolve never to return to it.
• A fourth is added when others are involved: return their rights or seek their pardon — and you may do this without exposing yourself.
• The tawbah must happen before death — once the soul reaches the throat, repentance is no longer accepted.
• If you fall back into the sin, renew your tawbah; the first one is not invalidated, but you must repent again.

And Allah knows best.